World Championships Day 1 Review: Trippas brilliant in steeple as Hull progresses in 1500m

16 July 2022

World Championships Day 1 Review: Trippas brilliant in steeple as Hull progresses in 1500m

In glorious weather conditions, the 18th World Athletics Championships commenced in Eugene this morning. It was a good morning for NSW with four athletes in action.

The first NSW athlete on the track was Ed Trippas (BAN) who a month ago on this very track placed fifth in the NCAA 3000m Steeplechase. In a major step-up in competition, Ed was terrific placing sixth in his heat in a time of 8:23.83. Overall he placed 20th, missing a berth in the final by just two seconds and five places. It makes him the second best ever Aussie, behind two results by Shaun Creighton in the early 1990s. It was fractionally slower than Creighton’s best too.

On her home track, South Coast’s Jessica Hull ran a safe heat in the women’s 1500m. Cruising in third place as she stayed well away from any risk of being tripped. She then accelerated at the bell to cross the line in second to automatically qualify in a time of 4:04.68.
Jessica will be joined in the semi-final by teammates Linden Hall and Georgia Griffith, a rare feat only once previously occurring in Australian men’s and women’s middle distance running at the World Athletics Championships.

Cronulla Sutherland hammer thrower, Alex Hulley was the first Aussie to compete in the field at the World Championships and she performed up to her best in the qualifying rounds of the women’s hammer throw.

After a nervous opening attempt of 64.46m, she hit 68.83m in round two and 68.49m in round three. She placed 10th in her pool A group and 18th overall. She had arrived as the 28th ranked athlete, indicating what a terrific performance it was.

In the men’s 100m heats, Rohan Browning was very competitive early in the race, before crossing the line in 5th. He clocked 10.22 and to rank 35th overall.

David Tarbotton for Athletics NSW
Image: Ed Trippas (Image courtesy of AA)